Broken
by That70sWriter
Summary: A short, sad story about the trials of the early marriage of Jackie and Eric. A little angsty, happy ending. Very short.


_This is a VERY short story idea that just popped into my head. It's a little dark. _

**Broken**

Jackie Forman was broken. Staring into a mirror, Jackie realized she was broken. It wasn't just her pale face or her unkempt hair, it was her life. Everything she had been preparing for was ripped out from under her in three single hours. Her future felt as if it wasn't there anymore. Her husband simply stared at her from across the bathroom, trying to coax her out of her depression. But she couldn't move, it was as if someone had chained her there. Not wanting to allow her freedom to get out. But her husband of one and a half years wasn't willing to give up yet. She figured he should.

"Jackie please," he whispered, trying to touch her. She flinched away, "Please go," she choked out. It was the only thing she could do to keep from sobbing. He nodded soberly, leaving the room and closing the door behind him. She turned on the shower, so the sound would drown out her sobs. She felt so cold that she got in immediately, abandoning her robe on the floor. She leaned against the tiled shower wall of her new house. She felt so empty that it was mocking her. Jackie had lost it. She had lost their baby, one hour it was there. Then she felt pain in her stomach, and then she went to the hospital.

No more baby. No more future, no more cute little onesies, no more buying rubber duckies. Just emptiness. She sat in the shower for thirty minutes before Eric opened the shower and joined her, fully clothed. He held her as she sobbed into his soaking wet shoulder. It's not nice when things like this happen to happy couples.

Two weeks later, Eric came home from work late only to smell the acrid smell of paint wafting through the house. Going upstairs, he discovered Jackie painting over the blush pink walls of the nursery in white. He grabbed her hand which was furiously painting. "What?" she demanded, her eyes red and her face flushed. "What are you doing?" he questioned softly, trying to calm her down. She pulled away, "I'm turning this into an office. You're always saying you need places to grade your papers. Well here." He let her go, sighing. He knew he wouldn't win this battle.

So he sat down in the middle of the floor and talked to her about school as she painted. He knew she didn't want to talk about it yet, but this was better than being ignored by the love of his life.

After the first month, Jackie still refused to touch him. She didn't find interest in holding Kaleb or playing with Betsy. She just was numb. She was broken, Eric struggled to deal with her stubbornness, but he loved her too much to give up. He didn't know what to say to her, but he knew he had to help. So he went to find her somewhere in the house. He discovered her in their bedroom, staring at an ultrasound photo of their daughter. "I lost her," Jackie whispered tearily, looking up at Eric. He went to her and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to his body. Once more she sobbed, and once more Eric prayed that she would get better.

Three months after the incident, Jackie finally began returning to normal. But she wasn't the same. She did not have that spark in her eyes, she didn't have that grin on her face when she saw babies. Instead, he saw fear. "What if I can't ever have kids Eric?" asked Jackie in the darkness of their bedroom one night. He rolled over to look at her frightened face, he caressed it gently, "Then we'll just adopt," he replied. She nodded sleepily and fell back asleep with him holding her. He could tell she was getting better.

Their two year anniversary was a milestone after their long hard months they had recently dealt with. The two were stronger from it, but they were both still hurting. That night, they made love multiple times, and the two woke up feeling content and happy for the first time in a long time. "I love you," she would say, kissing his face a million times, and he would reply by doing the same.

At times, he would see her staring in the mirror, as if questioning herself, and other times, she would catch herself caressing her once-again flat stomach, as if her future child was still there. But she wasn't, and she wouldn't ever be.

Eric came home from work one evening a year and a half after the incident, and he found Jackie in the now-empty home office. She was painting it midnight blue, stopping occasionally to caress her stomach which was now seven months pregnant. "What are you doing?" he asked playfully, kissing her neck. She giggled, "You wanted a Star Wars theme right? Why not make the walls and ceiling midnight blue and stencil some white stars around," she replied. He pulled back, examining her handiwork. "But why are you doing it tonight, we have to drive for four hours tomorrow morning." She smiled, "Well, I want to get the room done before we go to your high school reunion; that way it's dry before we get back."

Eric nodded in satisfaction, kissing her neck once more. Her arms snaked around his neck playfully. "Or we could just forget about the room," her pregnancy hormones caused her to say out loud. He winked, leading her out of the nursery and into their bedroom. The two collapsed on the bed and he smiled.

With their son Luke on the way, and a possible daughter in the future, he figured that she was no longer broken. But what she never would say is that she didn't need kids to be fixed. All she had needed was him.


End file.
